While the playoff committee doesn’t rank the power 5 conference, there is no way conference strength – which means OOC results doesn’t figure in to a committee members thought process.
Let me point out on my philosophy on these rankings – your most recent OOC results count a lot, and you’ll see me reference that throughout the season.
We’ll give each conference a relative strength value 1-10.
Let me explain my relative rankings
0-5 : Conference lacks depth no elite teams
6-7: Conference lacks depth, and there are 1-2 elite teams, and 1-2 quality teams
7-8: At least 2 elite teams, and at least 2 quality teams.
8-9: 3 elite teams, and at least 2 quality teams
9-10: 1/2 of conference is elite and/or quality teams.
1) SEC – 8.5
I debated what do to with the SEC. 1-4 the SEC can’t be touched, by any other conference. The bottom of the SEC is a total train wreck. Tennessee is one of the 5 worst power 5 teams in college football. Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, South Carolina, and Arkansas are bad football teams.
If either Oregon or Texas had knocked off one of the SEC heavy weights Auburn or LSU, I would have dropped them to Number 2. No other conference can match those pair of OOC wins though. They have 3, maybe 4 legit playoff caliber teams.
Week 3 Key Games
Kansas State at Mississippi State
Colorado State at Arkansas
Florida at Kentucky
Playoff Contenders
LSU, Alabama, Georgia, Auburn
In the Playoff Picture
Florida
2) Big 10 – 8.3
The Big 10 isn’t as good as the SEC at the top, but it’s not nearly as bad at the bottom. That’s why I have them ranked so close. Nebraska’s loss to Colorado was a black eye for the weekend, and Michigan is the Big 10’s version of Florida – ranked in the top 10, but no one believes is a really top 10 team. Maryland looked very impressive against Syracuse.
Playoff Contenders
Ohio State
In the Playoff Picture
Penn State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Iowa
Week 3 Key Games
TCU at Purdue
Arizona State at Michigan State
Maryland at Temple
3) Big 12 – 7.2
The Big 12 missed a major chance when Texas fell short at home against LSU. That’s still a very good team though, but this is not a deep league. Kansas lost to Coastal Carolina, and West Virginia is miserable.
Even Oklahoma looks a notch below the best 4 or 5 teams in the country.
Week 3 Key Games
Kansas at Boston College
NC State at West Virginia
Iowa at Iowa State
TCU at Purdue
Oklahoma at UCLA
Texas Tech at Arizona
Playoff Contenders
Oklahoma
In the Playoff Picture
None
4) ACC – 7.1
Clemson is the ACC’s only elite team, and they played like it suffocating Texas A&M in a dominanting 24-10 win. The ACC is in a weird position because teams like Miami, FSU, and Syracuse have disappointed, but teams like Boston College, NC State, and UNC might be pretty good. Virginia looks like the conference’s 2nd best team.
Week 3 Key Games
Kansas at Boston College
NC State at West Virginia
UNC at Wake Forest
Clemson at Syracuse
Florida State at Virginia
Playoff Contenders
Clemson
In the Playoff Picture
NONE
5) Pac 12 – 6.5
The Pac 12 just can’t have nice things. In this day and age, you’d rather have a great team, than several decent ones. They don’t have a team in the top 10, and there aren’t any quality OOC wins from anyone. There are ugly non-conference losses all over the schedule. Colorado did pick up a nice win against Nebraska this past week, and USC is creating a little buzz.
Week 3 Key Games
Stanford at UCF
USC at BYU
Arizona State at Michigan State
Oklahoma at UCLA
Texas Tech at Arizona
Playoff Contenders
NONE
In the Playoff Picture
Utah
The Rest
Notre Dame will have plenty of opportunities to prove themselves, but no one is buying them.
UCF gets their chance against Stanford this week.
Playoff Contenders
NONE
In the Playoff Picture
Notre Dame, UCF
My Current Playoff Teams
As my personal criticism of the playoff committee, I don’t think the top 4 seeds order should be released until the final rankings. The playoff committee’s inconsistent and ever changing criteria is causing unnecessary frustration and confusion. It’s one of the improvement points I’d have for them.
If I had a vote this is who I would put in the playoff right now.
In – Ohio State | Alabama | Clemson | LSU
Just Missed – 5) Georgia 6) Oklahoma 7) Auburn 8) Penn State
